After the game for that year is announced, the team has six weeks to build a robot from scratch to take to the competition and pit against other robots. Webb Robotics FIRST Team 1466 is located at the Webb School of Knoxville. Started in 2004 by geometry teacher David "Brotha Dave" Pierce and a small group of students, the program has grown and evolved tremendously, winning the Peachtree regional in both 2005 and 2010 while also helping to start and mentor new teams in the East Tennessee region. Webb Robotics is unique in that we are not participating in FIRST to win. As Team Captain Ishi Keenum notes, "Sure it would be great [to win], but one of my greatest memories of our team is sitting in the convention center going 'well whoops' and hearing 'ok we'll do better next year.' I admire that no one has been blamed for our previous failures and that we always look forward. I feel like we have achieved something great when we don't need a scape goat and we can turn all of our attention to the upcoming season. In addition to this our laid back atmosphere, while usually still productive, allows the members not to feel excluded which is never the goal. Great measures are always take to ensure that no one feels blindsighted or unwanted. We have realized that the two go hand in hand and that, at the end of the season, you turn to your team to joke with and not a trophy." David Pierce still mentors/manages the team, along with chemistry teacher Bob Brown, University of Tennessee student Sam Bacon, and many team parents (including but not limited to Mike Bollenbacher and the Anderson family). The gratitude of Team 1466's student members towards these individuals cannot be expressed through words alone. The fine reputation of the Webb Robotics team has allowed it to grow immensely totaling 45 students, 7 mentors, and 3 teachers.
